The guy in the video store thought that this movie went straight to DVD in Sweden because it is too internally American. Given that J. Edgar Hoover died in 1972 and that his most important acheivements were made in the thirties, the movie is not so much about politics as it is about the person Hoover – I guess It’s not many left who can relate to what he did. And that is of course the interesting angle, he seems to have been a bit weird, still accomplishing important things. Like the fingerprint records and other forensic police methods. The film claims that he was gay but too afraid to develop the platonic relationship he had with his closest (male) employee. And he was a little paranoid and collected holds on everyone, to be able to carry through his ideas. The most impressing thing with the film, though, is that Clint Eastwood still makes good movies – at age eighty-one. For it is of course a solid and good craft, even though I have a few objections. Worst of all is the aged Tolson’s (the beloved employee) age makeup. It’s literally outside Armie Hammer‘s body. While the others have been fully functionally shaped. We follow J. Edgar by his professional life in flashbacks, as he has his memoirs written. It’s okay, and Leonardo DiCaprio acts convincingly as old. Perhaps it is the understanding of his work that I miss. It is difficult to see why I should care about this. And that’s exactly what he said in the video store…